The Suffrage Movement

Canada’s first suffrage group was established in 1877 as the Toronto Women’s Literary Club, which later became the Canadian Women Suffrage Association in 1883.

Some of the key figures in the suffrage movement were Dr. Emily Stowe, an Ontarian woman who went to obtained her medical degree in New York City, formed the Toronto Women’s Literary Club, and later opened a medical college for women in Toronto in 1883 ; Flora Macdonald Denison, a supporter of the more radical British suffragists, and was seen herself to be more radical for her time due to her views of marriage, religion and war; and Nellie McClung, a Manitoban who was a part of the Winnipeg Political Equity League and fought for women’s rights.

In Manitoba, in 1914, Nellie McClung and the Winnipeg Political Equality League created the “Mock Parliament” which made a caricature of the premier (Rodmond Roblin) and his negative views on women and politics. In the 1915 provincial election, the Roblin government was defeated and replaced by the government of the new Premier T.C. Norris. Norris put the right of women to vote through parliament immediately.

With women gaining the right to vote, this gave women much more political power. As they were now allowed to vote provincially, they were also entitled to vote federally (as the federal voting lists were derived from provincial voting lists). Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta all obtained the right for women to vote in 1916, however this led to the problem of women being allowed to vote federally – women were only able to vote if they were sisters, wives or mothers of men at war. By 1918, all women could vote.

On the global stage, different women’s groups in other countries had different strategies. The British groups were more radical and participated in law-breaking activities such as civil disobedience and arson, while the Canadian groups preferred persuasion: they wanted to change public opinion by participating in public lectures/rallies, suffrage parades, using print media and humour.

This was especially difficult for women as it was a time when women rarely spoke in public and sometimes people would only show up to events because a woman speaking in public was such a novel idea.